turn out
Turnout in Turkish elections was 88.75% domestically and 51.92% abroad. Turks voted in more than 191,000 ballot boxes in 81 states to elect a new president for the country for a 5-year term and choose the 600 members of parliament. The number of eligible voters is 60 million 697 thousand 843 voters, of which 4 million 904 thousand 672 voters will vote for the first time.
What did Erdogan say?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to supporters at the Justice and Development Party headquarters in Ankara that the preliminary election results “show our progress by a wide margin”.
Erdogan pointed out: “We are 2.6 million votes ahead of our nearest competitors. They are trying to fool people saying they are ahead.”
And he continued: “The counting of votes will continue at home and abroad. No one will spoil this election scene with narrow political calculations. We await the final results, and we expect the numbers to increase with the announcement of the official results.”
He added: “We believe we will win in the first round, and if there is a second round, we will respect that. The people must be vigilant until the end of the counting of the votes. The results of the legislative elections show that our alliance obtains the majority.”
He explained: “Voters who voted for our coalition in parliament will inevitably stand on the side of stability in the presidential elections. They are confident of winning the elections in the first round after completing the counting of votes from abroad.
What did Kilicdaroglu say?
Opposition candidate in Turkey’s presidential elections Kamal Kilicdaroglu said he would accept the people’s decision to hold a second round, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not get the results he wanted in the Sunday’s elections.
Kilicdaroglu said in statements with other party leaders in his alliance that he would beat Erdogan if a runoff took place.
He added: “The data continues and we will accept a second round.”
Election Information
These elections are among the most important in Turkey’s 100 years of modern history. Turkish President, ‘Public’ Alliance candidate, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who aspires to win a second and final term after the country’s transition to presidential rule, ‘People’ Alliance candidate and leader of the People’s Alliance Republican Party, Kamal Kilicdaroglu, and Grandfathers Alliance candidate, Sinan Ogan, are vying for the presidency. On Thursday, Country Party candidate Muharram Ince decided to withdraw from the presidential race, as 24 political parties vie for seats in parliament. The Supreme Election Authority said the votes obtained by Inge will be counted as valid votes in the first round. Twenty-four political parties and 151 independent candidates are running in the legislative elections. While some political parties stood for election in five different coalitions, namely the “people’s” coalition, the “ancestors” coalition, the “work and freedom” coalition and the “Union of Socialist Forces”.
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